Monday, May 28, 1934

I stayed home from school today.

Dionne Quintuplets - Corbeil, Ontario, Canada

In the early morning of May 28, 1934 the names Annette, Cecile, Yvonne, Marie
 and Emilie became known to Canada and the world as the Dionne Quintuplets.

Born almost two months premature, with a combined total weight of less than
14 pounds, each child could be held in the palm of one's hand. The identical
quntuplets were taken from their poor, French-speaking parents at about nine
months were made wards of the province to protect their health and to keep
their father from using them to make money.

Ironically, it was the government that made the most money off the quints.
They lived their next nine years at the Allan Roy Dafoe Hospital, which was
built across the road from the family's farm house and became known as Quintland.
This quickly became a travel destination even more popular than Niagara Falls for the
 inquisitive tourists of the day. It is estimated that between 1934 and 1943 three million
 people visited Quintland, and earned the government and nearby businesses a
half-billion dollars off the tourists.




 

Sunday, May 28, 1933

Aunt Kate and them came by and took us out to Winnwood Beach, where we ate dinner. Went to baseball game. I went to show.

Winnwood Beach
Courtesy: Kansas City Public Library

Crowds numbering to 10,000 on Sundays visited old Winnwood
Beach in rural Clay County, Missouri. Swimming, boating, dancing,
picnic grounds, cottages, roller coaster, rides and sideshows were available.

The park, with spring-fed lake, was built and developed by Frank Winn,
member of a prominent pioneer Clay County family with large land holdings
and a pre-Civil War mansion. The boardwalk was copied from Atlantic City.

In addition to motor cars, the Kansas City Clay County and St. Joe Interurban
railway carried visitors to the park. Four-lane I-35 now follows the old tracks through the park.